


Ben Forgets to Eat and Klaus is Unamused

by Dogsledwolf



Series: How Does One Live? [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Hargreeves Forgets He is Alive, Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Fluff, Gen, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Light Angst, Sick Ben Hargreeves, he forgets to eat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 23:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18158255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dogsledwolf/pseuds/Dogsledwolf
Summary: Ben lifted his hand in front of his face, surprised to find it shaking uncontrollably.He really needed to go find Klaus before this got worse.___OrSometimes Ben forgets he's alive and that he needs to take care of himself.





	Ben Forgets to Eat and Klaus is Unamused

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I haven't posted anything in way too long but the Umbrella Academy is amazing and I love Ben Hargreeves with all of my heart.
> 
> This was going to be a simple 5 and 1 but I got carried away, and this seems to stand well on its own, so here's the first part.
> 
> Also this is set in an unexplained time where they are adults, after season one, but Ben's alive, and Five did some time travel stuff to fix everything. It's not too entirely relevant to the story, so I didn't bother to flesh it out.

Ben's stomach hurt.

 

His stomach hurt and it was disconcerting because pain was an unusual feeling. To be fair, any physical feeling was unusual. Being able to feel the softness of the bed sheets that he was currently lying on was weird, feeling his own weight pressing firmly against the ground was something he felt he would never quite be able to get used to.

 

The weird time travel shenanigans that Five had pulled had forced him back into the land of the living abruptly. This had led to a very low pain tolerance something he had figured out when stubbing his toe had brought tears to his eyes. But this pain in his stomach was way worse than a simple stubbed toe, and not just because the pain was worse, but because he couldn't figure out _why_ it was painful.

 

Ben sat the book he had been reading down on the bed beside him. The pain in his stomach made it too difficult to concentrate.

 

Was this just something that happened occasionally? He'd been dead for so long that maybe he had forgotten that it periodically felt like something was gnawing at your insides.

 

Maybe he should ask Klaus.

 

He should probably ask Klaus.

 

Ben stood up from his bed only for a wave of dizziness to come over him, making his vision blur and leaving him unsteady on his feet. He stumbled and grasped for his nightstand, leaning heavily on the support.

 

This was so much worse than his stomach.

 

Luckily, his vision had cleared a few seconds later, but the dizziness remained. His hands felt unsteady holding onto the nightstand so he slumped back onto his bed. Ben lifted his hand in front of his face, surprised to find it shaking uncontrollably.

 

He really needed to go find Klaus before this got worse.

 

Standing up seemed like it would be a death sentence, though. If Ben had enough energy he would've laughed at that. Death sentence. Nothing could even come close to actually being dead. Although, at least he already knew everything there was to know about being dead, and he didn't have to deal with unexplainable ills.

 

Of course it wouldn't be unexplainable if he managed to go ask Klaus.

 

With a resigned and slightly pained sigh he stood back up. He wobbled for a second, legs shaky under his weight, before he trudged out of his room and toward Klaus's. He kept a steadying hand on the wall as he walked down the hallway.

 

He rapped quickly on the door before entering, a mere formality more than anything else. Years as a ghost whose only form of contact was with a single person led to a complete apathy towards personal space. Plus with his current predicament, he couldn't be bothered to stand for any longer than necessary.

 

"What is up my most dearest brother?" Klaus asked when Ben entered, throwing a ball of yarn up and down. He was lying on his back on his bed, facing the ceiling.

 

Ben stuttered out a response, letting himself lean up against the doorframe as he spoke. "Some-something-something's wrong," Ben replied.

 

Ben inhaled shakily, breath catching. He let out a small choking sound.

 

Klaus sat up immediately. Attention sharp on his brother.

 

"Ben? Are you okay?" Klaus asked. "Stupid question, of course you aren't, I can see that." He paused for a second before rambling on. "Oh I've got it. Better question: what happened?"

 

Ben lifted himself off of the doorframe and stumbled forward. "I was lying on my bed when my stomach started to hurt so I went to go ask you why and-and I got really dizzy and shaky and now I feel like I'm going to fall over."

 

Ben's hand flew from his stomach to his head, his lightheadedness a rising fog of cotton, wrapping around his head and knocking him off balance. He swayed once, twice, before hitting the ground with a resounding crash.

 

Klaus's distraught face was in front of him a second later, talking loudly, but Ben was too tired to try and decipher it. He closed his eyes.

 

___

 

Ben woke up to a sharp pain in his arm. He pulled his arm into his chest, but that only served to increase his pain. A gentle hand moved his arm back to his side.

 

"Wha-?" Ben muttered, a headache pounding in his head.

 

"Keep your arm here, Ben. You pulled out your IV," Grace told him.

 

"My what?" Ben asked, blinking awake.

 

"Your IV," Klaus said by his head. Ben turned to look farther up Klaus's bed to where Klaus was seated, squishing his gangly limbs onto a single pillow much like a cat might do.

 

"Why do I need an IV?" Ben asked. As if on cue, Grace stuck the needle back into his arm. He let out a light hiss of pain.

 

"Why do you need an-" Klaus paused, smacking him lightly in the head with a foot. "When was the last time you ate?" Klaus asked him, the seemingly off-topic question throwing Ben off guard.

 

"How is this relevant to why I need an IV?" Ben asked, thinking back through his day to properly answer the question regardless. He had been out for a run during breakfast, and then, after a shower, he had started reading a new series. He had been halfway through the third book when the pain in his stomach had become too uncomfortable to ignore. Ben must've read through lunch and dinner by accident.

 

So he hadn't eaten at all today. That was probably bad. But he had eaten at some point yesterday, right?

 

"Mom said you haven't eaten food that she's cooked for three days," Klaus said, refuting the thought Ben had just had. Klaus gestured to Grace while speaking, she was busy checking the bag of saline hooked up to Ben's arm. "She had thought you'd been getting food elsewhere, but apparently not. How could you even forget about food?"

 

Ben shrugged in response and Klaus hit him on the head again. "You can't just forget not to eat! Aren't you supposed to be super annoying with all your 'Don't do drugs, _Klaus_.' 'Get some sleep, _Klaus_.' 'Eat your veggies, _Klaus_.' 'Weed doesn't count as a vegetable, _Klaus_.' You bother me all the time about taking care of myself but you don't bother to do the same to yourself?"

 

Klaus had gotten worked up while talking, hands moving dramatically as he spoke, so Ben took his free hand and rested it on Klaus's. Klaus squeezed his hand before continuing, his voice quite a bit softer than before. "You have to be more _careful_ , I thought you were going to die. Again."

 

"I'm sorry," Ben replied bashfully. "I honestly didn't realize I hadn't eaten. I suppose I'm still not quite used to being alive again."

 

"Just be more careful from now on," Klaus reprimanded.

They sat for a second, the mood in the air lightening considerably. "Now, do you want some waffles?"


End file.
